Extended weekend in the Maldives

I guess everybody has heard about the Maldives. It is a beautiful group of islands in the Indian Ocean. And luckily for us it is just a one hour flight from Sri Lanka!

Last March I had to do my visa run trip and there were just two options. Either go to see my friends in Kuala Lumpur, where I could get a little bit of western lifestyle – good food, good shopping, or go and find some good surf in the Maldives. The choice was clear! We googled some info and decided to go to Thulusdoo island.

How to get there?

There are many air companies going from Colombo to Male. For us, Sri Lankan Air worked out the best as we could take the board bag, though it wasn’t the cheapest. I was surprised that the flight was completely packed. Chinese people are taking travelling very seriously these days. 😊

Once we were at the airport we took a ferry (2$ ) to Male and then we waited two hours for a speed boat (30$) to Thulusdoo. It takes only 40minutes to get there. There were two options for travel to the island – first to make a reservation for the speed boat, which our guesthouse did for us, or second to take a ferry. The ferry (3$) goes at around 3pm and takes 3 hours, and as we had only 4 days in Maldives we chose the speedboat.

Accommodation and food

On the way to Thulusdoo you can see all the beautiful resorts from the ‘Holidays in paradise’ catalogue, sick yachts and resorts. Once we made it to Thulusdoo our host was awaiting us in the harbour and drove us to our guest house. As we took the cheapest option on the whole island the place was nothing special, but okay. If you want to stay in nicer places the prices will start from 100 dollars. I, as a vegetarian, was pretty starving all the time. There is a really nice pizza place and some local bistros too, but they have to bring all ingredients to the island so the food is a little bit pricey. Except fish! A whole tuna fish with a bowl of rice costs the same as a glass of mixed juice – funny, isn´t it? We had simple breakfast at our place too. YUK!, I refused it after a few days. Aah, and there is NO alcohol on the whole island, any island! Only on boats or in resorts.

What to do in Thulusdoo?

You can go for a walk across the island and you will see it all in about 25 minutes. You can chill on the beach, but be careful, there is only one small beach where you can move free in your bikini! Anywhere else, you need to stay covered. You can go for a snorkel trip. We went with a boat and guide to the coral. I am scared of fish and anything alive under the water, so for me it was a super intense experience. But amazing – all the colourful fish, turtles, corals – I’m so happy I made it! On the way back we saw a flock of dolphins, so we jumped back into the water to swim with them.

And finally you can surf! There are two spots – Cokes and Chickens. Guess why they are named like this? The first one is after the factory for Coca Cola and the second one is after a chicken farm – neither of these exist anymore. According to info from surfatoll.com: ‘Cokes is a world class right that breaks off an island housing a Coca-Cola factory. A hollow, pounding righthander, Cokes is the best big wave spot in the area, and the poster wave of the North Male Atoll.”
Well, I will probably never surf such a wave. It´s shallow and steep and just too crazy. So, for the afternoon session we hired a boat and went to Chickens. It´s super close to the island, but there is a very strong current between, so it’s easy to get exhausted if you try to paddle there.
‘Chickens is now known as one of the longest and liveliest lefts in the Maldives. The left at Chickens is a reef break that can stretch almost three times longer than the left at Pasta Point, capable of producing over ten second barrels in the appropriate hands and conditions.’ says surfatoll.com.

In March it was only the beginning of the season, so it was not big and not barrelling, so even I could have a try to catch some waves. Yay! It involved quite a lot of paddling to stay in the line up but never ever before have i seen such beautiful, clean, transparent water like in the Maldives.

It’s been a few months since this trip and I feel like I want to go back again. You know, just for the weekend. To chill, to catch the waves (my life will not be full without at least one wave in Maldives!!), to see the corals and fish. Like people go to their summerhouse. Can the Maldives be my summerhouse? Keep on dreaming Katia!